A Passion For Reading: Giveaway/Promo: The Space Between by Victoria H. Smith

Title: The Space Between

Author: Victoria H. Smith

Release date: April 2, 2013

Age Group: New Adult

Genre: Contemporary Romance

Tour organized by: AToMR Tours

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Summary:
When Drake started the night at his father’s campaign fundraiser, he never imagined he’d end it being conned into buying drugs on the West Side. Losing high-stakes poker has its consequences, but he’d repeatedly face them just to hear Lacey Douglas sing. Drake sees Lacey light up the stage, and he has to have her. But his intentions for being on her side of town turn out to be the reason he can’t.

Chicago native Lacey has dreams of the opera, but life has its obstacles. Lacey has come to know her hardships as part of living in the real world and accepts them fully. When Lacey meets the intense and invigorating Drake, a fire is lit inside her, unleashing those dreams again.

Two paths that should have never crossed prove to create the exact pairing the other needs. But when their worlds take time to catch up, everything they have is tested. Finding the space between the two sides that challenge them will be hard, but it’s the only place that will keep them together.

The Space Between is a new adult contemporary romance.

(Drake is the main male character in The Space Between)

My Take on Drake
By Victoria H. Smith

Drake’s Motivations

When I created Drake, I knew I wanted him to be different than the average rich boy who is bored in his seemly perfect life. I wanted him to have a unique reason for rejecting who he was and longing for something different. So when I stumbled into the world of international adoptions while researching ideas I knew this was it. Drake struggles with identity because he was raised in a household that doesn’t acknowledge his roots. Because of this absence of his culture, he acts out. That’s when he meets Lacey, someone who is well aware of her identity. Because he sees her, he finally understands why he acts the way he does.

Drake’s Personality

While building Drake’s quirks and personality, I knew I wanted him to have a sense of humor. Someone who had a light-hearted take on life. I always seem to have someone like this in my novels. Whether it’s the heroine or a best friend. I thought: “why not have a light-hearted leading man this time.” I think humor makes his life easier to deal with. It helps him tread on and deal with the world. Drake is also a fighter. When he wants something, he takes it. This can make him a bit cocky sometimes, but he is also quite lovable and passionate when he cares about something or someone.

Drake’s Physical Features

Drake’s physique was very fun to create. He is described as six-foot-two with mahogany eyes. As an international adoptee, he is also of Asian descent with a long, lean, muscular physique. Lacey states that he has a swimmer’s body (think Michael Phelps :D). This fact is later proven when he states he used to swim in high school. I knew I wanted a hero who could tower over and virtually envelop his heroine with his build. Lacey is very stubborn and doesn’t feel she needs protecting, but when Drake is on the scene she just can’t help but let him take care of her. It’s stated in the novel that Drake is from Korea. I chose this country of origin for a few reasons. Many males in the 1990s (when Drake was born) were adopted from Korea. Picking a country such as China would not be accurate. Boys in China are rarely available for adoption due to the country’s one child policy.

I scanned many actor and model photos for Drake’s inspiration, and I must say this was quite fun! I eventually had to settle on one and his name is Dennis Joseph O’Neil. He is also Korean American, so I felt this choice was fitting. I’ll include a picture. :-)

I hope you enjoy these facts on Drake!

About the Author:

Victoria H. Smith has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. She puts it to good use writing romance all day. She resides in the Midwest with her Macbook on her lap and a cornfield to her right. She often draws inspiration for her stories from her own life experiences, and the twenty-something characters she writes give her an earful about it.

In her free time, she enjoys extreme couponing, blogging, reading, and sending off a few tweets on Twitter when she can. She writes new adult fiction romance in the sub-genres of science fiction, urban fantasy, and contemporary, but really, anywhere her pen takes her she goes.

Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads

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